Philosophy, Science and Religion mark three of the most fundamental modes of thinking about the world and our place in it. Are these modes incompatible? Put another way: is the intellectually responsible thing to do to ‘pick sides’ and identify with one of these approaches at the exclusion of others? Or, are they complementary or mutually supportive? As is typical of questions of such magnitude, the devil is in the details. For example, it is important to work out what is really distinctive about each of these ways of inquiring about the world. In order to gain some clarity here, we’ll be investigating what some of the current leading thinkers in philosophy, science and religion are actually doing.
This course, entitled ‘Science and Philosophy’, will serve as the first of three related courses in our Philosophy, Science and Religion Online series, and in this first course we will ask important questions about the nature of scientific knowledge, its limits and implications for the disciplines of philosophy and religion, as well as for their intersection.
We begin by asking whether scientific claims aspire to absolute truth. For instance, are there any scientific claims that are absolutely true, or are they all true relative to the system of thought that generated them? If we accept the latter, does this also hold true of any claims we might make, including within the domains of philosophy and religion? In this Science and Philosophy course we will also be exploring in some detail current and exciting questions about the relationship between physics and faith, science and pseudoscience, creationism and evolutionary biology.
The second and third courses in the Philosophy, Science and Religion series—‘Philosophy and Religion’ and ‘Religion and Science’—will be launched later in 2017. Completing all three courses will give you a broader understanding of this fascinating topic. Look for:
• Philosophy, Science and Religion II: Philosophy and Religion
• Philosophy, Science and Religion III: Religion and Science
Check out our trailer to hear more: https://youtu.be/OifqTI5VKek
You can also follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/EdiPhilOnline and you can follow the hashtag #psrmooc

From the lesson

Creationism and Evolutionary Biology—Science or Pseudo-Science?

Guest lecturer: Professor Conor Cunningham. This module examines the scientific status of evolutionary biology. What may count as a scientific theory? Is evolutionary biology scientific? Is it likely to change in the future? Approaching these questions from a philosophical perspective can help clarify the ongoing debate between evolutionary biology and religion.